The future urban battlefield: Implications of new technologies

27 April 2018

Conflict is increasingly taking place in urban settings and the development and deployment of new technologies in this context raises both challenges and opportunities.

In March 2018, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Asia Pacific Centre for Military Law (APCML) and Program on the Regulation of Emerging Military Technologies (PREMT) convened the "Emerging military technologies applied to urban warfare" roundtable in Melbourne, Australia.

Bringing together government, military and academic experts from various disciplines, the roundtable examined three areas of emerging technology and their intersection with urban warfare: cyber capabilities, autonomous weapon systems and human modification technologies.

The ICRC Australia Mission took the opportunity to speak with participating experts on the potential legal, ethical and humanitarian implications of the use of new military technologies in an urban context.

Interviewees:

  • Professor Eric Talbot Jensen, Brigham Young University
  • Dr. Rain Liivoja, University of Queensland
  • Kobi Leins, University of Melbourne
  • Dr. Jai Galliot, University of New South Wales
  • Ellen Policinski, International Review of the Red Cross